The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #66521

Myriam E. Torres, PhD, MSPH, Teresa Payne, MSPH, and Ana Lopez-De Fede, PhD, MEd. Institute for Families in Society, University of South Carolina, 937 Assembly Street - Carolina Plaza, Columbia, SC 29208, 803-777-0930, torresme@gwm.sc.edu

The Census 2000 shows that, compared to data from the 1990 census, the Latino population in South Carolina increased more then 200%. In the year 2000, the Institute for Families in Society conducted the first statewide Hispanic Needs Assessment under contract with the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. Three hundred twenty-seven face-to-face interviews were conducted statewide in Spanish with limited-English proficient immigrants and migrant and seasonal farm workers. The survey explored the participants’ background, employment status, health status, health risk behaviors, and access and barriers to health care. The study interviewed one hundred-forty seven women whose average age was 30 and with a mean of 7 years of education. About half of the women were working and among those who were not, 85% were keeping the house. The majority of the women (80%) were married/living with a partner. More than 90% reported that Mexico was their country of origin and their average time living in the US was five years. The main problems to gain access to health care are language (e.g. lack of interpreters, family members as interpreters), accessible transportation, directions to sites, personal transportation and problems obtaining driver licenses) and lack of health insurance that raised health care costs. Monolingual Spanish speaking women in South Carolina are mainly of childbearing age and require health services related to pregnancy and children issues. The health care and educational systems in South Carolina are facing the need to reach Latino families in a cultural and language competent manner.

Learning Objectives:

• To identify the health care issues of newly immigrated women to the Southeast.
• Exploration of the barriers and their impact on health seeking behaviors.
• Discuss implications for the delivery of culturally competent health care services.

Keywords: Latinas, Access to Care

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.